


Runaway

by LaughingFreak



Series: The Todorokis Go Underground [3]
Category: My Hero Academia
Genre: Angst, Dabi is Todoroki Touya, Family Issues, Gen, Running Away, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor's Bad Parenting, Todoroki Rei Needs a Hug, Todoroki Rei-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 10:02:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27469186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingFreak/pseuds/LaughingFreak
Summary: Rei escapes with her children.
Relationships: Todoroki Enji | Endeavor/Todoroki Rei, Todoroki Rei & Todoroki Shouto, Todoroki Rei & Todoroki Touya
Series: The Todorokis Go Underground [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869211
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> This took me a lot longer to write for something I knew what to do with, hm... Well, it finally got done and it was angstier than I thought it was gonna be, but I guess Rei's gonna be like that this time around.
> 
> Rei--34yrs old  
> Toya--14yrs old  
> Fuyumi--13yrs old  
> Natsuo--8yrs old  
> Shoto--5yrs old
> 
> I'm also playing it safe with the rating, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty accurate???

Things weren’t supposed to end up like this. She wasn’t supposed to be stuck in a room with white everywhere, cuffed to the bed like she was dangerous. Her family was supposed to be happy and filled with laughter and love; her husband was supposed to care and look out for her.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

_It wasn’t supposed to be like this._

Tears fell down her cheeks, blurring her vision as she stared up at the ceiling. Enji was so good to her at first, sweet and a gentleman and passionate. Yes, he always had a temper, but he was never prone to taking any of it out on her, whether with words or his fists. She had always felt safe with him when they were dating and their dating turned into marriage. Rei wanted to be the wife that he deserved, that would stand by his side as he fought to get stronger and go up the ranks. She wanted to be the wife that welcomed him home with a warm meal and a clean house.

She wanted to be a mother and he wanted to be a father. When he told her he wanted to be a father she couldn’t help the joy she felt. It was something they agreed on and a year into their marriage they had their first child. Toya.

It was fine at first, but then Toya’s quirk unleashed and everything changed with Enji. The change was slow, but it was noticeable. She didn’t say too much, only try to get him to take it easy and remind him that their son was still young and had time to learn.

Enji’s temper and frustration didn’t come to a head until after Fuyumi was born a year later with Rei’s quirk, but much weaker. When she wasn’t taking care of her daughter she was trying to get Enji to calm down because Toya was hurting and that the training that Enji was putting him through was leaving scars.

Found out soon afterwards that their son’s quirk didn’t meld well with his body, that his blue flames were too strong for it to contain well without damage, and it would have been better if he had been born with her ice quirk. His body was just not made to handle his fire quirk.

It was the first time that Enji had hit her.

It was not the last.

Some days she could still feel the bruise on her cheek from that hit and it only made her want to cry more.

Enji continued training Toya more and was even harsher than before. It was as if he thought he could beat the weakness out her son and make it so his body would accept the flames. She tried so hard to protect her small children, tried to take most of the pain, but Enji still got to them, got to Toya.

When he decided that he needed to try for another child so he could have the perfect one with the perfect balance of his quirk and her own, she obliged him with some reluctance. He manhandled her, but was not rough. Maybe this would be the child he wanted and he’ll go back to being the man she fell in love with.

Natsuo wasn’t the child he wanted either after his manifested. He ignored their third child after that turned his focus back to Toya again. Fuyumi always tried to take care of his bruises and help Toya with dinner. It was getting harder for Rei get to get out of bed, harder for her to look in the mirror and see a mother that was good and strong when all she saw was a weak woman and a mother that couldn’t even protect her own children.

It reminded her of how much she was beginning to despise herself.

As she was slowly spiraling the three grew together and got close and she was able to summon herself to crawl out of bed and not stare at her husband’s razor for long periods of time she tried to take care of them. Her kids were so strong and she loved them and she wishes she was a better mother for them, a stronger mother.

She was going to be that, a better mother.

Rei wasn’t a strong quirk user, never really trained with it, and it showed when she tried to use it to get out. In how her thinking of a way to get out was a struggle with all the drugs pumped into her system to keep her from spiraling.

To keep her from being able to think for herself and weak enough to just lie there in bed and stare at the ceiling.

She focused and focused until she was able to form a blade of ice. When she got that far she tried to wrangle around and cut or force open the binding on her wrist. It took longer than she wanted and she had to refocus on making another small ice blade a few more times before her wrist was free. She hurried with her other one. It took much less time than the first one, but it wasn’t fast enough. The sound of feet running down the hall told her that her escape was noticed.

Rei looked around until she saw a camera in the top corner of the room. She shot a small spear of ice and it pierced through the camera, putting it out of commission.

The sound of the voices and feet were getting closer and she didn’t know what to do. How was she going to get passed them? Would they use a dart to tranquilize her, to knock her out?

She froze the entire door closed in a panic.

“H-How do I get out now…?” she whispered as she looked around the room and her eyes landed on the window.

Her room was on the second floor, she could probably make it with little damage. Well, it was her only option and she added more ice to the door for some extra resistance and quickly got as many linen and cords around as she could. If she tied them together she could use them to climb out the window. Whether that went well or not was not something she was going to think about. If she thought too much about it then she’d freeze and would get caught. She couldn’t let that happen, not when she had to get to her children.

It felt like it took forever, with how her hands trembled and fumbled about as she tied everything together, but it only took minutes. She regularly reinforced the ice on the door then dumped her line out the window after tying it to something sturdy.

Rei stopped thinking after catching sight of what she had to do and just moved as quickly and carefully as she can. Her foot slipped a couple times and she almost lost her grip, but she kept her hold. It wasn’t until she reached the end of her rope that Rei saw she had a little ways to go, yet the only way to make it the rest of the way to the ground was to hopefully land without breaking anything. Licking her lips she slid until she dangled by the end of the line.

Just as she was thinking about a way to get down with the least amount of impact there was noise at the window and she looked up. The doctors and nurses grab onto her makeshift rope and instinctively Rei let go before she could get taken any further away from the ground.

She hit the ground, landing hard on her arm and crying out. Rei heard the sound of people running and she forced herself to her feet, hissing when put weight on her left hand in the rush of getting to her feet.

It was all instinct as she made her way back to her home, hiding when and where she could when people got too close.

She didn’t know the time and all she focused on was getting to her children. Her lungs burned and her arm throbbed. Everything blurred together.

“Mom?”

Rei’s head shot up, eyes wide, as they landed on her oldest son with a backpack on his back. He looked a deer caught in headlights and the only thing she could do was tear up and say, “Toya…”

The tears must have worried her oldest son because he immediately went to his mom’s side and started rubbing her back. “Mom, are you okay? I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here anymore.”

She shook her head and wiped her tears. “No, no, I get it.” She put her hand on his cheek. “We’ll leave together. I can’t do this anymore. Get Fuyumi and Natsuo and help them pack, I’ll get Shoto.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, but he did stare at her hard for a moment before nodding. “Okay. Dad is gone on a mission for the night. It’ll give us a head start.”

He turned and headed back towards the house. She bit her lip and called, “Toya? How’s Shoto? Is he okay?”

He looked at her, his expression soft, and said, “He doesn’t hate you, Mom.”

That reassurance had new, fresh tears coming up and she had to hold back a sob. It took a weight off her shoulders knowing that her baby boy didn’t hate her. She didn’t know it weighed as much as it did on her until her oldest assured her. Rei wiped at her eyes and hurried into the house to the direction of her youngest’s room. 

She opened the door and nearly let out another sob at seeing her youngest in bed sleeping with bandages around his left eye. She had done that, she had hurt her baby just like her husband.

She hurt her baby…

She _hurt_ her baby…

She _hurt her baby_!

Rei choked out a sob and fell to her knees as she clung to the door frame, tears falling. The thoughts of her actually hurting her son running rampant in her mind and telling her how wretched of a mother she is, those thoughts telling her that she was no better than her husband.

Maybe she didn’t deserve to be with her children. Maybe they’d be better off without her.

She wasn’t good enough, wasn’t strong enough.

They deserved a better father, they deserved a stronger mother.

She wasn’t stable, she wasn’t good enough, she was useless…

“Mommy?”

Her eyes shot up. A wide eye stared at her and then suddenly she had a crying son in her lap and hugging her, crying.

“Mommy, mommy! You came back!” Shoto rubbed his head against her and squeezed her as tight as his little arms could. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you! I didn’t mean for dad to take you away! I’m sorry…”

“No, no, baby,” she hugged him tight, “none of it was your fault, it was mine. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, I’ll never hurt you again. Never.” When she pulled back Rei cupped his cheeks, tears streaming down her own as she stared him straight in the eyes, and said, “It wasn’t your fault, okay? I need you to understand that it wasn’t your fault that I hurt you or that your father sent me away. It’s not your fault, so don’t apologize.”

He nodded his head and shook her hands off his face so he could curl into her lap and hold onto her. He held on like she was going to disappear.

Rei hoped to whatever god was out there that her baby understood that.

In the distance she heard the chatter of her other children as they ran around to gather their things. She took a deep, shaky breath and took Shoto off her lap and stood up. They had to get around, she had to do at least this right and get her children away.

“Shoto, we need to get some clothes around, okay? We’re leaving.”

He looked up at her, gray eye wide as he clinged to her hand. “Away from dad?”

“Yes, sweetie, away from dad.” She squeezed his little hand. “Can you help mommy get your things?”

He nodded and ran to his dresser and she hurried to find a bag big enough to fit his things but also small enough for him to carry. Once she found one the two of them were putting in some clothes and bare essentials.

It was when they were zipping up his bag after carefully choosing what could stay and what had to go that her other three children came in, each with their own bag. Toya carried two, the one he had earlier and another one.

Toya handed the new bag to her. “This is yours.”

She didn’t even think about herself and getting her own things. It made her wonder if she could take care of her children out there alone if she couldn’t even take care of herself.

Rei shook those thoughts away and took the bag, putting it over her shoulder. “Thank you, sweetie.” She looked at Natsuo and Fuyumi and put a hand on their heads, giving them a smile that she was sure was trembling. “Are you ready to go?”

“Y-Yeah…” said Fuyumi, her voice small and her small hands gripping her backpack straps tightly.

Rei took on of her hands in one of her own and her other took Shoto’s. Her two oldest boys stood strong and sure for being so young, but what she saw in Toya was different than what she saw in Natsuo. With Natsuo he was ready to get away, but there was the childish fear that still hung there.

Toya looked ready to burn the world to the ground if it meant that they’d all get out safe.

She hoped it wouldn’t come to that or else she would have failed.

As if she hadn’t already.

“Okay, let’s go,” said Rei.

And they ran.

And ran.

And ran.

* * *

When Giran opened his door at the insistent knocking he was not expecting a woman and her four kids to be on his doorstep. For a moment he almost thought they were his kids, but he didn’t recognize the woman and he was one to remember people. It was his job. So that thought left as quickly as it came.

They looked rough, dirty and tired, as if they’d been running nonstop for days, weeks.

But then he remembers the word going around about a missing family. A family of the number two hero Endeavor. They made it out that a villain had kidnapped them to the public, but from the looks of it that didn’t seem to be the case. Word from his source also told him that things were taken from the room that indicated running away more than a kidnapping.

But of course Endeavor had to save face, so of course it was a villain that kidnapped his family. His family would never runaway. So it goes amongst the heroes and citizens.

Poor, poor Endeavor.

As the information broker looked at the family, faces scared and determined and tired he thought it was more fitting to say ‘poor, poor wife and kids’.

It was almost two o’clock in the morning though, he wasn’t sure how much he was willing to deal with this.

Giran took a drag of his cigarette. “What can I do for ya?” he asked, exhaling a cloud of smoke as he stared at them.

The woman licked her lips, the daughter and youngest child clinging to her on each side. “Please, I hear you’re the person to go to if we needed something. I…I need help.”

Her tone was soft and there a sort of begging cadence to it and if he was any other man he would have taken advantage of it, but… “And what’s in it for me? I’m not in the business of helping people from the goodness of my heart, y’know?”

She gulped, but looked him straight in the eye and said, “Anything you want. I just need my children safe.”

He raised an eyebrow and looked the woman over. She was attractive, no doubt about that, but she was also foolish. If he was a weaker man she’d be on her knees servicing him with a cock in her mouth and keeping her kids protected would depend on how well she could wet his cock and take him.

But what he saw instead was potential. For her and her children.

Giran stepped back and opened the door for them to step inside. “Come inside and we’ll talk.”

She hurried the four kids inside, the oldest one, he assumes, watching him with a glare.

As soon as they were inside and he took another drag of his cigarette he said, “First lesson, sweetheart: when someone asks for something in return don’t answer with ‘anything you want’ and tell them you ‘just need to keep my children safe’. Saying that puts all your cards on the table for someone to take advantage of you and keeping you on your knees.” He watched her look down and bite her lip. “Lucky for you I’m a business man, so we’ll go find something in my kitchen that’s edible for you and the kids and then I’ll start teaching ya some tricks.”

He turned his back on them and walked down the hall, feet pattering behind him and turquoise eyes burning a hole into his back.

Oh yeah, this was going to be interesting.


End file.
